Awesome! Two amazing books for free!Blog 11/30/2010 14 commentsDid you see my reviews of the books uC/OS-III The Real-Time Kernel by Jean Labrosse and uC/TCP-IP by Christian Légaré? Well, I just heard how you can get FREE copies of both these works…

Book Review: uC/TCP-IP by Christian LégaréEngineer’s Bookshelf 11/30/2010 2 commentsI have to say that I am very, VERY impressed with the quality of books that are being written by the folks at Micriµm – the one I just finished reading on TCP-IP still has my head buzzing!

Big score for TriQuint GaN programRF & Microwave Designline Blog 11/30/2010 4 commentsI just heard from TriQuint that they scored a $17.5M GaN manufacturing development contract form the US Air Force Research Laboratory.

The 450-mm development dilemmaBlog 11/30/2010 3 commentsThe semiconductor capital equipment industry has still not recouped $14 billion in investment in 300-mm wafer processing technology and is not prepared to develop 450-mm tools.

ESL, FPGAs, and configurabilityBlog 11/29/2010 1 commentHere’s a taxonomy for ESL and FPGAs that will hopefully prevent definitions from becoming as word- distorted and confused as they have become in so many other areas of EDA.

From RTL to GDSII in Just Six Weeks!Blog 11/29/2010 37 commentsThe amazing story of how one man single-handedly invented a new computing architecture, designed a multi-million-gate SoC, and went from RTL to GDSII tapeout in just six weeks.

Debug: More return for less clicksBlog 11/29/2010 6 commentsThe tremendous growth of the semiconductor industry over the past 40 years is in part attributed to advancements of the EDA industry that caters to chip design companies. Although most design steps have been automated, a significant aspect that still remains primitive is that of RTL debugging.

Nervously watching KoreaMemory Designline Blog 11/28/2010 13 commentsI was reading a post on TechEye.net today, and the writer had some thought-provoking points in response to the recent escalation of hostilities between North and South Korea, and what impact the situation might have on DRAM and LCD markets

Seagate gaining bidders?Memory Designline Blog 11/28/2010 7 commentsDo you think it is more logical for Seagate, one of the world's largest maker of hard drives, to be consolidated with one of the other big memory players (and its current rivals), or would you rather see Seagate remain an independent company?

The evolution of design methodologyBlog 11/24/2010 8 commentsIn nature, long periods of relatively stable environments are occasionally punctuated by large-scale changes that are the catalyst for evolution to create a large variety of mutations, and then for natural selection to weed out the unsuccessful ones. The environment in which design methodology lives is similar.

Walkman R.I.P., Audi soundAudio DesignLine Blog 11/23/2010 6 commentsMy take on the fate of the Walkman (maybe it should be renamed the "WalkingDeadman") and on the efforts by Audi - and other companies - to find the "right sound" for their products.

Your duck is deadBlog 11/22/2010 5 commentsSometimes there’s a joke that’s so bad it’s good (if you see what I mean). This one is an oldie that’s made the rounds, but it still makes me grin…

IP in FPGAs: Blessing and a curseBlog 11/22/2010 12 commentsWith the IP-SoC 2010 event next week in Grenoble, we see FPGAs finally getting some kind of exposure. But, Dave Orecchio of GateRocket indicates that FPGA designers need to be aware of the unique nuances of using IP in these programmable platforms, and put in place tools and methodologies to overcome the IP use obstacles to success.

Wherefore art thou oh 60GHz?RF & Microwave Designline Blog 11/22/2010 14 commentsAfter three years, WirelessHD and the vaunted 60GHz bandwagon hasn’t gone anywhere. Moreover, it hasn’t showed up in any other interesting applications either. Why? It isn’t because it can’t be made to work.

Sanmina-SCI aims for transparent interconnectsBlog 11/18/2010 3 commentsAn executive at Sanmina-SCI recently demonstrated to me that every aspect of the electronics industry all the way down to the printed circuit board. is wagged by two heads, user expectations and economic feasibility.

Technology waits for no one and nothingBlog 11/18/2010 2 commentsReferring to the lyrics of "Time Waits for No One", co-written by Keith Richards and Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones, Bob Smith of Magma explains that, in the world of electronics, technology waits for no one, especially IC developers or EDA suppliers.

The table of the twist in the tail cableEngineering Investigations 11/17/2010 12 commentsA recent article in EETimes about using Transmitting Video over Cat5 Cable reminds an engineer of a problem he encountered when his employer was upgrading the data network.

Real men have fabs…or do they?Blog 11/17/2010 10 commentsJerry Sanders' famous quote from the early days of the foundry industry is rightly mocked today, but a slightly modified (and more politically correct) version may still be applicable.

The Emperor of Ice-CreamBlog 11/16/2010 5 commentsI just ran across a poem called The Emperor of Ice-Cream (it’s the author’s hyphen, not mine). If it hadn’t been explained to me I wouldn’t have a clue what it was about. Once you do know what it’s about, however, re-reading it really makes you think…

*Footprint Graphics* or *Land Patterns*?Blog 11/16/2010 9 commentsOK, I know I’m supposed to spend my days pondering the imponderables pertaining to programmable logic, but FPGAs end up on circuit boards, and I just ran into a problem with regard to PCB terminology…

Check out EDA startups on EE Times' Silicon 60 list!Blog 11/15/2010 Post a commentThe EE Times List of 60 Emerging Startups has been updated to Version 11.0. Do not wait and find out whose EDA companies have been added to the list, replacing others that either fell by the wayside or matured gracefully to bigger and better things.